


A World Apart

by journeycat



Category: PIERCE Tamora - Works, Protector of the Small - Tamora Pierce, Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-11
Updated: 2015-09-11
Packaged: 2018-04-20 06:03:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4776353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/journeycat/pseuds/journeycat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sir Anders interacts with his youngest sibling.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A World Apart

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for the Drabble Tournament (250 words) at Goldenlake in May of 2010. Unofficial submission.

“What are you doing?”

He was both gently exasperated and amused, and Keladry glanced up at him with a smile. “I’m looking at worlds.”

Anders squatted down next to her. “Worlds?”

“Uh-huh.”

“It looks like a bunch of sand to me.”

“It’s in the sand, silly.”

He was quiet for a moment. He didn’t remember when her birthday was, but he distantly remembered a letter from Ilane scolding his absence. He thought maybe she was four...or was it three? Anders wished he payed closer attention to her and Avinar now—with Vorinna squalling in the birthing chambers, he felt oddly inadequate when it came to children and fatherhood. 

His musings (and the mad midwife his mother favored) had chased him out of Mindelan altogether, where he found his sister unsupervised on the river shore, with her little toes buried in the sand, mysteriously shifting through the grains.

Curious, Anders finally asked, “What kind of worlds?”

“Well, this one,” Kel said, pointing vaguely at a spot, “is filled with purple people with three legs. And this one is where the pie animals live.”

Inadequate though he was, he decided it would be in poor taste to laugh at her. It was charming, in a way. “How about this one?”

“Lady knights live there.”

He smiled indulgently. “Of course they do,” he said. He held out a hand, which she trustingly took. “I think it’s time we head back. Mama will be wondering where we went.”


End file.
